Britain’s Largest Bank Bans Credit Card Purchases Of Cryptocurrencies

Britain’s largest bank, Lloyds Banking Group, has banned its customers from making credit card purchases, the first bank in Britain to do so.

Lloyds Banking Group, the largest bank in the UK, has become the first major credit card provider in the country to ban its customers from using credit cards to buy cryptocurrencies, the Daily Telegraph reported today, Feb. 5.

Lloyds, which contain Halifax, Bank of Scotland, and MBNA, will block its 9 million credit card customers from making crypto purchases through an online blacklist that will flag sellers. Lloyd’s customers will still be able to buy cryptocurrencies with their debit cards.

The credit card block was instituted after Bitcoin (BTC) saw a large price drop in the market this week, falling below $8000 for several days in a row. Lloyds has said that this ban will “protect customers” that could accumulate large amounts of credit card debt if the market price keeps falling.

Bitcoin is trading around $7,451 by press time, down about 14 percent over a 24-hour period.